In fairness though, and trying to be fair to the 'in denial' Brexshiteers, it must be very hard to face facts and publicly admit you've been completely sucked-in by a campaign of deceit masterminded by a tiny cadre of immensely-wealthy tax-avoiders and, as a result, behaved like a stupid, feeble-minded cunt.

Not much talk any more about those golden opportunities post-brexit either. Doctor Liam hasn't done very well, has he, apart from ensuring cheaper cuckoo clocks. And I can't imagine things will get much better if we continue to piss Trump off over failed jihadi fighters and send warships to float past China.

It's just brexiteers in denial, Jim. Knowing that they have lost the 'everything is going to be ok' argument they have moved on to 'the news is all that bad' and 'it's nothing to do with brexit anyway'. Why they just can't admit they were wrong is beyond me.

Here is part of the announcement:Katsushi Inoue, Chief Officer for European Regional Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., and President, Honda Motor Europe said; "In light of the unprecedented changes that are affecting our industry, it is vital that we accelerate our electrification strategy and restructure our global operations accordingly. As a result, we have had to take this difficult decision to consult our workforce on how we might prepare our manufacturing network for the future. This has not been taken lightly and we deeply regret how unsettling today's announcement will be for our people." . . . Honda's European HQ will continue to be located in the UK. It will be focused on serving the needs of our European customers.

This gives a good reason for the restructuring (and thus the closure of the plant) and does not mention Brexit. This is not selective quoting. The rest of the page doesn't mention Brexit either.

Closing Swindon has repercussions far beyond the loss of the 3500 jobs. There are disruptions to supply chains with other manufacturers and there's the loss of skills, not to speak of the social consequences in the town. Thatcher enticed the Japanese carmakers here, promising them an illustrious market and the free flow of materials. We've ditched that promise via brexit so they're ditching us. That was never daubed on the side of a bus, was it? I've gone against my own grain and decided to back another referendum. The country will vote remain and that's the only way we're going to stop the country being wrecked. The seven MPs are despicable and totally unprincipled. They all used party money to campaign and they all used the party structure to get elected, and they all stood on the Labour manifesto and they all increased their majority. They should stand down and fight by-elections. I wish them a miserable oblivion.

I've always thought that any MP who stood and got elected on a party ticket, supported by party workers and party money, then left the party, should step down as an MP as well. They are there under false pretences.

By extension this should also apply to all those MPs elected on a brexit ticket and now busy betraying it.

No doubt your whimsy will find a way to weasel out and refute the suggestion.

Nice twist on Brexit Seven right wing Labour politicians (4 with direct links to Israel) have left the Labour Party with a view to forming their own party They give "antisemitism" and Brexit for their reason for doing so One who isn't involved with Israel was one of the few successful in refusing to reveal the details of her expenses during the scandal Good riddance to them - perhaps we can see a continuance of progressive Labour policies without being hampered by a yearning for a return to the good old days of 'New Labour's' "Weapons of Mass Destruction" and duck palaces for politicians pets Jim Carroll

In the search for good news, we should not overlook that the UK has struck a deal with the US to in effect roll over an existing EU agreement.

Ok, "keeping what we have" is perhaps stretching the definition of good news too far, but it doesn't immediately look like bad news ... assuming there have been no unpublished additional agreements of course.

I've always thought that any MP who stood and got elected on a party ticket, supported by party workers and party money, then left the party, should step down as an MP as well. They are there under false pretences. Anyway, good riddance. They have all worked to serially undermine Corbyn. Now they'll have to do it as pink Tories. And that'll get them nowhere.

For my part, I have no problem with any MP deciding they will vote according to their beliefs and judgement rather than the whip. In fact, the more, the better. And that applies to all parties.

I note that the breakaway people are calling themselves a group, not a party. That may just be a matter of where they are in the process but it may reflect that that there are enough differences between them they think a new party is a non-starter. They will of course be aware that our system is very unforgiving for new parties as well.

And isn't it an intriguing detail that 8 chairs were put out and seven MPs resigned? A miscount or a no-show I wonder?

As we approach the horror of brexit, Kevin, denial has become the brexiteers' mantra. It's notable that, along with that, we are hearing less and less about the "opportunities" that brexit provides. Gone bit quiet, has that. But let's look on the bright side: we have a deal with the Swiss. At least we won't have to pay more for our cuckoo clocks. There's an upside to everything.

Essentially it’s the same fallacy you get when climate change deniers assert that, if there turned out to be natural factors that contribute to undesirable change, that means that any contribution to such changes from human activities can be of no importance, and that efforts to deal with them are misguided.

Also English is stuffed with sayings like "the straw that broke the camel's back" And "juggling too many balls" and stories like "how the arena became the king of the birds." Using the juggling metaphor, if it took juggling a specific four to run the business with difficulty, and adding a fifth called Brexit caused everything to be dropped it would be perfectly reasonable to blame the Brexit ball. True, you could have got rid of one of the others and juggled successfully, but you would have been losing one of the key four needed.

Blaming Brexit for a demise can be perfectly reasonable, even if it is comparatively small effect, should it be enough to tip the business over the edge.

DMcG I do not really dispute your analysis. What somewhat irritates me is those that latch on to brexit as the sole cause of all things negative. Variable factors impact outcomes, from confidence to the weather. The problem arises in trying to assign the correct weighting to each of the variables besides actually being able to identify them in the first place.

This is the second time in about as many weeks I have pointed this out. Brexit can be A factor without being the ONLY or even the MAIN factor., That all low cost carriers are finding it tough does not affect whether Brexit uncertainty makes things tougher.

This winter is proving extremely cruel to small airlines, which have high fixed costs and, currently, very low revenues. It has precipitated the collapse of Primera Air, Cobalt of Cyprus and Germania before Flybmi.

Flybe, which is continuing operations as normal, has been rescued by a cash injection from a consortium involving Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Air and a US hedge fund – which bought it for just £2.2m.

Small regional airlines based in the UK are particularly vulnerable. Return journeys on domestic flights are subject to £26 in Air Passenger Duty, placing them at an immediate disadvantage. And whenever a route becomes successful, it is likely that a bigger player will elbow in with larger planes and lower fares.

Lets see a Scandinavian airline, a cypriot airline, and a german airline along with FlyBMI all kicked into touch and Flybe struggling. All due to Brexit? Pull the other one!

I think their business model had been flawed for years. The only surprise is that they kept trading so long. The dog was dead, the infestation of fleas was insufficient to keep it moving. Brexit will occur after it's wake.

Potential purchasers of flyBMI and flybe will take the forecast return for whatever slots they own into account, and they will base any such forecast from today when Brexit is more than a gleam in anyone's eye.

It is silly to blame everything on Brexit. But it is equally silly to refuse to admit Brexit might be causing problems.

Everything that affects potential profitability feeds into that forecast, including how Brexit might alter the market.

No one can dispute that. However the slots were sold off long before brexit was a gleam in anyone's eye. The residue of the company was a stripped out husk losing money from that time if my understanding is correct. From comments I have seen elsewhere it was a dead duck a long time back. "The airline was heavily loss-making, and no-one was prepared to put in extra funding. The average passenger load per flight was just 18, meaning even the small regional jet planes flown by Flybmi were less than half-full, The typical Ryanair departure has 10 times as many passengers.

Since Flybmi split away from BMI, investors have pumped in £40m, which represents a subsidy of about £13 per passenger ever flown."

It's a well-known fact in our house that a cracked-open bottle of prosecco must be consumed in full as one wouldn't want to be later consuming the flat article. We therefore never have 'a little prosecco" unless there are four or five of us, and even then it prompts the commissioning of a second bottle.

I am reminded of a brilliant "Rise and Fall or Reginald Perrin" where he invited all the senior staff of his company to a party and they all hung awkwardly aroubd his dining room whwre there was no food, but no one could mention it. After a long time he said, "Right every one, shall we move into the garden now?" Evwryone brightened up becauae obviously all the food was out there ... And it wasn't.

In the end he said there was no food but he had donated all the cost of it to a charity and was sure every one would agree. And of course they had no choice but to agree.

BMI Regional had emerged in 2012 as a spin-off airline, under new owners, after the mainline carrier BMI was sold to British Airways parent IAG. BMI Regional operated services under the brand name Flybmi

Flybe is a totally separate company that is also up for sale, Potential buyers have been mentioned as Easyjet and Stobart.

It might be worth mentioning that I used to work for the UK Civil Aviation Authority in the section that regulated the slots at airports, so I can probably say quite a lot about the impact of "EU interference." Suffice it to say that in broad terms, the slots are worth what airlines are prepared to pay, no more, no less and the EU regulations are about ensuring slots are bought to be used, not to held unused to block out competitors. What airlines are prepared to pay depends on their forecast - yes, I am afraid, they do rely on forecasts - of how profitable owning one slot rather than another is. Everything that affects potential profitability feeds into that forecast, including how Brexit might alter the market.

BMI asset value in 2008 was £12 million. EU interference made their Heathrow landing slots worth £770 million. Various airlines bought shares to gain slots and then sold the company on. By 2012 they were losing £1 million a month.